Hard ceramic materials are known and are used extensively in such applications as metal cutting and milling tools, wear-resistant machine parts and the like. Hard ceramic materials, as used herein refers to such compositions as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, silicon aluminum oxynitride and related compounds, as hard and dense monolithic or composite materials. The composites include those containing whiskers and/or particulates of SiC, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, other ceramic materials, and metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides such as TiC and TiN. It is also known that the service properties such as wear, high temperature and chemical resistance of such materials may be enhanced by the application of one or more thin coatings of, for example, metal carbides, metal nitrides, or ceramics. Great strides have been made in improved performance of these coated substrates, for example in machining applications, by refinement of the substrate compositions and by applying various combinations of superimposed layers of coating materials. However, increasingly stringent use conditions, for example use at high cutting speeds or in extremely high temperatures and/or corrosive environments, are placing increasing demands upon the performance of such materials.